Christmas Trivia Bits 25 December

 

• The Messiah, an oratorio about the life of Jesus Christ was written by German composer George Frederick Handel.
• Queen Elizabeth II’s Christmas broadcast was first shown on TV 1957.
• Recorded in 1942, the classic song by Irving Berlin, White Christmas and recorded by Bing Crosby has sold over 30 million copies.
• On Christmas Eve 1978, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog, members of the world wide pop sensation ABBA, announced their separation after seven years of marriage.
• Paul McCartney, a member of The Beatles, became engaged to Jane Asher on Christmas Day in 1967 – the engagement was later broken.
• On Christmas Day, Britain’s first Christmas tree is pout up at Windsor Castle by Queen Charlotte.
• In 1968, Apollo 8 flew around the moon and broadcast a Christmas message to earth.
• The late Princess Dianna’s first public solo duty was to turn on the Christmas lights at London’s Regent Street in 1981.
• In Adelaide, South Australia, Test Cricket was played for the first time on Christmas day between Australia and the West Indies.
• After auditioning hundreds of actresses for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, producer David O Selznick offers the coveted role to Vivien Leigh on Christmas Day 1938.
• If your birthday falls on December 25^th, then you are born under the star sign of Capricorn.
• Santa’s Little Helper is the name of the pet dog in the TV show The Simpsons.
• The age of an unnamed British millionaire business woman who gave birth to twins on Christmas Day 1993 was 59.
• The lead singer of the group Eurythmics Annie Lennox was born in Christmas day 1954.
• During World War I, an un-official Christmas truce took place between British and German troops on the Western Front.
• Pope Julius I designated December 25 as Christmas Day in 350AD.
• The name of the Christian preparation period prior to Christmas is known as Advent.
• The common name of the Australian wildflower blandiflorda is Christmas Bells.
• William the Conqueror was crowned king of England on Christmas Day 1066.
• The name of an evergreen tree with glossy leaves and bright red berries which has often been bestowed on girls born near Christmas is Holly.
• Christmas Creek is the name of a creek in both the states of Victoria and Queensland.
• The Australian Prime Minister of Australia when Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin on Christmas 1974 was Gough Whitlam.
• Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar are collectively known as The Magi or the Three Wisemen.
• The 1843 book A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens.
• For Christmas 1983, Cabbage Patch Kids were the must have present in the US with each doll being unique coming with adoption papers and no two dolls being alike.
• An extortionist exploded a bomb in the Sydney, New South Wales, store of major retailer Woolworths on Christmas Eve 1980.
• Assassinated Egyptian President Mohammad Anwar El-Sadat was born on Christmas day 1918.
• In order to romanticise his past, Humphrey Bogart, male star of the movie Casablanca, falsely claimed to have been born n Christmas Day.
• Long reigning Emperor Hirohito acceded to the Japanese throne on 25 December 1926.
• Comic genius, Charlie Chaplin, noted for his role in The Tramp, died aged 88 on Christmas Day 1977.
• Yule is another name for Christmas.
• The Coronation Stone was stolen on Christmas Day 1950 from beneath its resting place under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey, London.
• According to Biblical records, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem- Judah.
• Boomtown Rat singer, Bob Geldorf, in 1977 sang Look After Number One, and later at Christmas time 1984 was looking after millions as part of Band Aid a charity supergroup featuring mainly British and Irish musicians and recording artists.
• Animal character, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, was created for a children’s colouring book in 1939 and then became the subject of a popular song.
• English ice-skating duo, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, starred in the 1986 Christmas spectacular Fire and Ice.
• Christmas Day 1913 was not a day of good cheer for one couple who were arrested in New York for kissing in the street.
• Perry Christmas was a partner in the first store of retail giant Woolworths when it opened in Imperial Arcade in Sydney in 1924.
• Shortly before its scheduled landing on Mars, the British built Beagle 2 space-probe mysteriously vanishes Christmas Day 2003 never to be heard from again.
• In the Christmas song Six White Boomers the boomers are Kangaroos used by Santa Claus in his Australian run.
• Australian Prime Minister Earle Page had Christmas as one of his names – Earle Christmas Grafton Page who was Prime Minister in 1939.
• According to the song Twelve Days of Christmas, my true love sent me five gold rings.
• Born on Christmas Day 1949 was Oscar award winner for Best Actress in Coal Miner’s Daughter – Sissy Spacek.
• Soviet Union leader, Mikhail Gorbochev, tendered his resignation on Christmas Day 1991.
• Christmas Hills exists in the Australian states of Tasmania and Victoria.
• On Christmas Day, 1965 Rubber Soul by the Beatles moved to the top of the UK Album charts.
• Sir Henry Cole is credited with the invention of the Christmas Card in 1843.
• Adrian IV, enthroned on Christmas Day 1154, has been the only pope from English background.
• Runaway British MP, John Stonehouse, was detained by police in Melbourne, Victoria on Christmas Day 1974.
• What did Adam say to Eve on the day before Christmas – It’s Christmas, Eve.